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New York Knicks vs Philadelphia 76ers Game Thread

Guess whos Bizzack with your game thread for the Knicks and 76ers game?
Im MSGKnickz33 and Im gonna break down tomorrow nights game. Stephon Marbury is now expected to play Friday night despite the fact that the funeral for his father was yesterday. Eddy Curry is expected to play after spraining his ankle while running in practice on Wednesday.

Philadelphia is considered by many to be the worst team in the Eastern Conference. They play good defense however and they are a tougher team than what their record indicates.

Philadelphia 76ers Starting Lineup:

At Point guard, Andre Miller
At shooting guard, Willie Green
At small forward, Andre Iguodala
At power forward, Reggie Evans
At center, Samuel Dalembert

Now lets take a look at the starting lineups for our New York Knicks!!!!!

At point guard, Stephon Marbury
At shooting guard, Fred Jones
At small forward, Quentin Richardson
At power forward, Zach Randolph
And at center, Eddy Curry

Lets take a look at what the Knicks need to do to get the win and improve to a 7 and 11 record.

Philadelphia is not a good offensive team only averaging 91.5 points. Dont let them become a good offensive team.

The 76ers are the 8th best team in the league defensively so move the ball around, look for good shots, and take care of the ball.

Be Aware!!!! Samuel Dalembert is averaging over 2 blocks a game. The Knicks should not force the ball into Curry as much as they normally do because he will have an excellent defender on him. Look for other options.

Look to double AI: Iguodala has proven that he can score and Q-Rich might have problems with him. The team needs to recognize this and look to help Richardson.

What does each player need to do?

Stephon Marbury needs to bring his tough defense and look to score when the Knicks need offense.

Jamal Crawford needs to watch Willie Green on the perimeter. Green is not a big name starting shooting guard, but he did have 23 points in a recent game although hes only averaging about 12 points a game so far this season.

Quentin Richardson needs to continue to play with alot of heart and emotion. This team needs his leadership. With the minutes Isiah is giving him, Q needs to start shooting better. Iguodala might get switched at some point in the game and have to guard Crawford so Q should look to attack whoever they put on him, possibly Korver. He needs to break out of this slump.

Zach Randolph needs to keep his body on Reggie Evans. Evans is a monster on the boards. He does not have much of an offensive game but hes a physical defender. Zach cannot match Evans physically, so he needs to look to shoot. Also, when Zach is being double or triple teamed he needs to give the ball up immediately. He shot well last night (10-15), but he took a bad shot at the end of the game that could have easily been avoided.

Eddy Curry needs to focus on defense and make sure this 76ers team does not score more points then they should. Samuel Dalembert is a good defender, so Curry should not look to score as much similar to the New Jersey game had he played. Its another good oppertunity for Eddy to work on his defense.

The biggest factor coming off the bench for the Knicks will be Renaldo Balkmen. The 76ers will bring Kyle Korver off the bench who is a pure shooter. Balkmens job will be to bring his normal energy and contain Korver. Louis Williams is a tough young guard who will also be coming off the bench for Philadelphia. He can score as seen with his 18 points off the bench against the Celtics on Wednesday night. Because he is 6'2", maybe Nate Robinson will get some playing time when Williams is on the court.

The Knicks will play the 76ers again at home Saturday night. This will be a good chance for them to obtain a 8 and 11 record which is just 3 games under 500. They need to take advantage of an opponent with less talent by jumping on them early and not giving them a chance. As a team, the Knicks should be embarassed by their record. Although alot of pieces dont fit together, they should still be a 500 team heading towards a playoff birth.

Tune in at 7:00 tomorrow night on MSG to watch the Knicks take on the 76ers in Philadelphia. I'm MsgKNicks33 and I thank you for joining me.

Back to Back Games vs 76ers should prove what this Knick Team is made out of in playing a team in a series, the coach and his rotating players being on the same page.

The 76ers best qualities are their Defense.
PG-Andre Miller is not the player you want on the court when the game is on the line. His best games are against Marbury.

Green & Kover love the Knicks poor defense on the peremeter.

Igoudala is the player that brings the energy to this 76er team.

Evans is a strong-force in the paint if weakness is showed.

Dalembert career best is against defending Curry.

What PLAN do Head Coach Isiah Thomas have for the two Game series against a 5-13 Philadelphia 76ers Division team that loss their last 3 games? should let us know if Isiah Knicks are preparing for Post Season Presence this season.

Will Head Coach Isiah Thomas look for Crawford & Zach on offense vs Miller & Dalembert Defense?
Isiah Thomas has a problem with repeating the same offensive plan from the previous game WIN, it's been unsuccessful for this Knick Team. Especially if it is the same plan that was used on a Nets Team that has Political Team Problems with their Leader.

The next two Knick games vs 76er's (No Matter our Roster) should give us an idea of how well our Head Coach Post Season Thinking is, and how well his hand pick players respond to his design plan on a "Back to Back" Game vs the same team.

The Knicks did not play good defense in the first half. As I mentioned in my pregame show, Philadelphia is not a good team offensively so the Knicks should not have allowed them to score 53 points. A couple of players on the team need to step up their effort. As a player, you need to recognize that your job is not just to score, but to prevent the opposing team from scoring also.

Offensively, the Knicks played average. They missed alot of easy shots although some of them right under the basket were contested by Dalembert. The Knicks have still done a good job of moving the ball around and they should be happy with their fg percentage (45.8&#37.

In the second half, they need to focus more on defense. Dalembert should not have 12 points. He is an excellent defender (3 blocks), but in no way is he known for his offense. He usually does not score 12 points in a whole game so the Knicks need to get a body on him in the 2nd half. Reggie Evans is another player who should not have 9 points. The Knicks big guys are giving up too many points to the normally offensively challenged 76ers big guys.

Thanks for joining me, catch me after the game for postgame analysis and find out who the player of the game is.